Improvement in harvester knives



statt @time GEORGE J. WARDWELL, OF RUTLAND, VERMONT.

Letters Patent N o. 99,797, dated February 15, 1870; antedatetl February 6, 1870.

IMPRCVEMENT IN HARVESTER KNIVES.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the samer.

To all whom 'it may conce/rif:

Be it known that I ,y GEORGE J. WARDWELL, of Rutland, in the connty of Rutland and State ot' Vermont, have invented a'new and improved Harvester Knife; and I do hereby declare that. the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings making part of this specification, in whichr Figure 1 is a view of one side of my improved harvester knife.

Figure 2 is a highly magnifiedv front-edge view of a portion ot' the knife-plate. y

Figure 3 is a cross-section, showing one practical mode of applying the knives to lingers, and a lingerbar.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding l parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to a new andusefnl improvementon cutters or knives for grain and grass harvesters, and consists in a corrugated steel plate, havi hereinafter explained.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand my invention, I will describe its construction and operation'.

, 1 take a thin steel plate of proper width and length and pass it between corrngat'ing rollers, or beneath suitable swaging dies, and produce a plate, B, having corrugations or waves extending transversely with respect to its length.y It' desirable, several short plates may be united by rivets, screws, or otherwise, but I prefer to have the p'late of `one piece of metal.

l then bevel, by grinding, one edge of this plate B on opposite sides, in doing which I produce the concave or scalloped cutting edges b between the opposite beveled surfaces (t a, which latter, throughout theV ent-ire length of the plate, will lie atly upon a plane surface, and may be convenientlyv adapted to an ordinary grindstone to be sharpened.

lhe opposite edge or back edge ot' the plate .B is confined between two narrow bars A A, byv rivets or screws c, which bars' will afford the requisite degree of stiffness to the plate, and serve as the knife-bals, by which motion canbe transmitted to the plate B through a pit-man rod, or in any other well-known manner. g

In gr3 of the-drawings, I .have represented-one practical mode ot' combining lingers O and a finger-v bar, D, .with my improved cutter.'

It will be seen that the linger-barD is seated upon the palms of the fingers, so that the upper surface of this bar is on a level withthe surface. g, upon which the bottom knife-bar A slides.

It will also be seen that the surface upon which the knife-plate B slides is elevated above the surface g, the thickness of said bottom bar AWhich serves, in

conjunction vwit-b the angle portions e, to'keep,the ,V `knife-plate -down in place upon the fingers.

lllhe lingers may be of the open-guard' ind, with the overhanging portions extended back' r enough to cover the beveled surfaces a,'so that these overhanging portions will operate inconjlnictio vth the lower portions of the fingers, to hohl the gi or grain on opposite sides of the plate B while being chti- It will 4be seen from the `above descriptions, that the cutting is all pertbrnied' bythescallopedl edges ot' the corrugated plate, and that the lingers serve to protect said edges from injury by striking objects. in their path, and 'also gat-her in vand hold the grass. or grain while it is being cut.- The corrugated torln of the plate B affords great strength and lightness, and presents suclra small amount of surface where it lies upon the. fingers that very little ti'ietion will be produced, and there will be noliability ot' the accumulations or clogging of these parts. l

Having described iny invention,

What I claim as new, and desire to secuoe by Letters Patent, is-

A corrugated plate, B, having a scalloped cutting edge, substantially as described.

GEO. J. WARDWELL.

Witnesses:

C. CLARK, O. W. SAFFORD. 

